Tis the season for TCM

“Someday we will understand how the same virus can cause a runny nose in women and a life threatening man flu in men”

Happy New Year!

Well, 2017 has been a crazy year at No Allergies Please, but finally everything is now getting back to normal.

2017 had school with midterms and exams up to April, selling the house, losing my father at the end of October, moving at the end of November, having no internet for a week and no business/home phone for 3 weeks; plus unpacking and getting ready for the holidays…whew!I think I need to book an appointment with myself!

I think every once in a while the universe comes along and has to do those things in order to make sure you’re awake!

And on that note, as one of my clients always says….”Onwards!”

One thing I’ve noticed is that everyone is getting sick. They’re fighting off one thing or another.

First, pathogens (such as viruses) are classified as either wind, cold, heat/fire, damp, dry or summer-heat.

A cold or flu would be classified as one of these types depending on the types of symptoms you are having.

For example:

If you had chills, body aches, itchy throat and were NOT sweating, it would be more of a cold pathogen.

If you had chills, fever, sore throat and sweating, it would be more of a heat pathogen.

If you had the fever, sweating, a lot of phlegm with swollen neck glands and joints, it would be a damp pathogen

Dry pathogens would present as dry nose,skin,throat or cough will only a little sweating

If it was summer and you were thirsty, cranky, sweating, felling heavy with an upset tummy, it could be summer-heat.This would be comparable to sun-stroke type symptoms.

Wind would be present in all of these cases because wind moves in quickly, comes and goes just like a cold or flu would. For example, someone with a stiff neck would have some ‘wind’ stuck in their couli (the area between their skin and muscles).

This all must sound weird and foreign to you. It’s still very interesting (to me at least).

In each of these cases, there would be different acupuncture points used – for instance, you wouldn’t use points to expel cold if you had a heat pathogen!

You may be wondering why I brought up this topic. It’s because most people only use acupuncture for things like lower back, neck, shoulder or knee type PAIN. When you incorporate TCM training like I’ve done, it has the capacity to do a lot more.

So if you’re starting to feel a little under the weather, book an appointment and lets work on expelling those pathogens naturally! Your extended health care benefits may cover you too.

Almost forgot…..Acupuncture is traditionally done with needles, but it doesn’t have to be!